The Tech Landscape #107 💸
The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (6th Edition) lists 107 acceptable 2-letter words, from aa (rough basaltic lava) to za (slang for pizza).
Some quite important stories this week: Facebook’s announced a new currency, Google will bypass mobile carriers to provide an upgrade to SMS, and a major engine of online advertising may be in breach of GDPR.
XR
Google announced new 3D tools for brands and creators. YouTube will offer virtual beauty try-ons, with brands like M·A·C offering lipstick shades. And a new mobile web ad format, Swirl, allows the use of 3D models in display ads. Poly, Google’s 3D object library, will gain a new 3D model editor.
blog.google/products/marketingplatform/360/immersive-branded-experiences-youtube-and-display-ads/
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, Niantic’s AR game follow-up to Pokémon Go, is now generally available. The game had been trialled in Australia previously.
digitaltrends.com/gaming/ar-mobile-game-harry-potter-wizards-unite-live-early/
Niantic acquired UK physical/digital games studio Sensible Objects. The team will be rebranded as Niantic London.
sensibleobject.com/2019/06/18/sensible-object-acquired-by-niantic/
Magic Leap is suing Nreal for copying the technology in its augmented reality glasses. Nreal, founded by Chi Xu, a former employee of Magic Leap, is set to release its glasses later this year.
theverge.com/2019/6/18/18684164/magic-leap-nreal-light-chi-xu-lawsuit-ar-glasses-design-ripoff
Bose will launch its Frames voice-controlled audio AR glasses in India next week.
voicebot.ai/2019/06/18/bose-audio-sunglasses-launch-in-india-with-voice-support/
Messaging
Google is to provide its own RCS (‘SMS 2.0’) service to users in the UK and France. RCS is an open standard upgrade to SMS which Google has been pushing mobile carriers to support for years now but, fed up with slow progress, will now push it out directly to phones itself through the Android Messages app. It enables businesses to send rich interactive messages to consumers, with analytics and data which is currently being lost to Facebook.
theverge.com/2019/6/17/18681573/google-rcs-chat-android-texting-carriers-imessage-encryption
Google has made it easier to build bots for its team-based messaging app, Hangouts Chat, by launching integrations with conversational system Dialogflow and automation service Hubot. I have to be honest, I’d completely forgotten about Hangouts Chat.
cloud.google.com/blog/products/g-suite/keep-the-dialog-flowing-create-conversational-chatbots-in-hangouts-chat-with-dialogflow
Advertising
The UK’s Information Commisioner’s Office (ICO) has released a report which states that real-time bidding, which is a big chunk of online advertising, isn’t GDPR compliant and the adtech industry is ‘immature in its understanding of data protection requirements’. Considering much of the web is funded by advertising, this is a story to keep an eye on.
techcrunch.com/2019/06/20/behavioural-advertising-is-out-of-control-warns-uk-watchdog/
A group of major advertisers, agencies, and tech platforms have formed the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, with the aim of cleaning up online advertising. It’s not yet clear how they aim to do this.
techcrunch.com/2019/06/18/global-alliance-for-responsible-media/
Everything Else
Facebook has announced details of its new currency, Libra, with launch partners including MasterCard, Visa, and Uber. The blockchain-based currency is initially pitched at developing countries where many people don’t have access to bank accounts. If it catches on, Facebook will have unprecedented insight into spending.
theverge.com/2019/6/18/18682290/facebook-libra-cryptocurrency-visa-mastercard-digital-currency-calibra-wallet-announce
While user numbers continue to increase, engagement on Facebook has dropped around 20% in the past year, according to new research by Mixpanel. This is why Facebook is pushing harder to monetise messaging and looking to diversify revenue through social commerce.
theguardian.com/technology/2019/jun/20/facebook-usage-collapsed-since-scandal-data-shows
Facebook has released an update on its efforts to combat online disinformation, especially in conflict areas. Actions include increasing proactive takedowns of harmful content, limiting message forwarding on Messenger in Sri Lanka, and education campaigns in Myanmar.
newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/06/social-media-and-conflict/
Google’s AMP Stories can now be created and published in WordPress, using the latest AMP plugin. This is the first concerted effort to bring the Snap/Insta Stories format to the web.
searchengineland.com/amp-wordpress-plugin-now-supports-stories-315617
Google is rolling out more tools for businesses on Google Maps, including discounts and other welcome offers, short URLs, and a space to order offline assets.
blog.google/products/maps/helping-businesses-capture-their-identity-google-my-business/
Google has announced that it will no longer be making its own tablets, and will focus Chrome OS on laptops. Last year’s Pixel Slate wasn’t well received, more for the software than the hardware.
theverge.com/2019/6/20/18693399/google-abandoning-tablets-pixel-slate-failure
Google was accused of scraping song lyrics from genius.com, but responded by saying they pay third-parties to license their lyrics.
blog.google/products/search/how-we-help-you-find-lyrics-google-search/
Google will shut down Hangouts on Air, its live group video broadcast service, sometime next year. It recommends YouTube Live as an alternative, although that only allows one account to broadcast live at a time.
androidpolice.com/2019/06/21/hangouts-on-air-shutdown/
More than 2,500 new free sound effects have been added to the Alexa Sound Library for developers. Too many Skills still don’t take sound design seriously.
developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/6c0c28e7-50e5-4868-afef-71bbe74423aa/alexa-skills-kit-sound-library1